Japanese voice

Carmilla (カーミラ,Kāmira?), sometimes spelled Camilla in both English and Japanese versions, is a recurring boss and antagonist in the Castlevania series. Several incarnations of this vampiress have appeared throughout the series, sometimes accompanied by her loyal servant, Laura. She is often referred to as possessing great beauty and allure.[2]

Carmilla, the title character, appears as a member of Austrian nobility, while in reality she's the long-dead Countess Mircalla von Karnstein, returned to life as a vampiress. She is portrayed as possessing lesbian traits and her victims are exclusively female. However, she becomes emotionally involved with the main protagonist, Laura. Carmilla has nocturnal habits but is not confined to the darkness. She has unearthly beauty, can change form at will, and is able to pass through solid walls. Her animal alter ego is a monstrous black cat and she sleeps in a coffin.

In the story, Carmilla takes advantage of the anonymity of a masquerade ball to look for victims. In the games, her mask represents the ballroom masks that she wore to the many parties she went to in the novella, and was also used to hide the fact that she was a vampire.

Even though Carmilla is a lesser known and far shorter Gothic vampire story than Dracula, the latter has been cited as being heavily influenced by Le Fanu's novella.

Description

Carmilla often appears as a loyal servant to her master, Count Dracula, either by plotting to revive him, or by awakening from her own long slumber in order to come to his aid.[2][3] Her role is notably averted and expanded upon in the Lords of Shadow saga.

Appearances

Camilla (a misspelling of Carmilla) made her first appearance in Simon's Quest, where she appears as one of the three bosses in the game. She goes by the moniker Onna Kyūketsuki (女吸血鬼), name with which she is referred to in the instruction booklet and which translates to "Female Vampire"[4] or "Vampira".[5] A clue book found in Debious Woods refers to her properly as "Camilla".[6] She is encountered in Laruba Mansion.

Carmilla appears as the boss of Stage 4 in Rondo of Blood, along with her consort, Laura. Once Richter or Maria enters the boss room, they are first greeted by Carmilla's mask, in a homage to her portrayal in Simon's Quest. From behind the mask, Carmilla appears as a giant nude maiden; the mask then breaks into pieces and a giant skull emerges from behind. Carmilla then starts hovering in the air behind the skull, while this sheds fierytears of blood which scatter throughout the room as they make contact with the ground; all of this while Laura paces back and forth attempting to get a hold on the heroes. If she manages to do so, she will grab and restrain them in place while draining away their supply of Hearts.

In Dracula X, if Richter fails to save Annet during his journey, once he reaches the top of the Clock Tower, a giant skull will appear from the sky and possess the hapless Annet before he can do anything to save her, transforming her into the vampire witch, Carmilla, and replacing Death as the boss of that level.[7] While her appearance is similar to some extent to that from Rondo of Blood, her attacks are identical to those of Shaft in that same game.

Contrary to her relative minor roles in previous games, Camilla appears as a much more prominent character in Circle of the Moon. Possessing her own castle located in Austria, she plots to revive her master, Count Dracula, in order to unite the forces of darkness.[3] However, the events in Circle of the Moon take place in an alternate continuity, and as such they don't form part of the accepted canon.

In The Dracula X Chronicles, Carmilla fights much like she did in the original version of Rondo of Blood; however, due to updated gameplay mechanics and somewhat lower difficulty, the fight is easier this time around.

In addition, while not Carmilla herself, failing to save Annette in the game results in her being vampirized similar to Annet turning into Carmilla in Dracula X (only in this case, she turns into a Lesser Vampire).

Other appearances

Galamoth plots to send the Time Reaper from 10,000 years in the future, into the past to destroy his rival, Dracula, and change history. A man named Aeon discovers this and pulls together champions from different eras of history into a dimensional rift in order to find a chosen one capable of destroying Galamoth's servant. Carmilla is one of these warriors.

Carmilla is a female vampire. She worships Dracula like a god and her greatest joy is shredding humans and let their blood splatter on her.[8] Carmilla views humans as nothing more than prey and always looks down upon them. She is aggressive and provocative.[9] Her interactions with Sypha Belnades also reveal that Carmilla was responsible for the witch hunts that resulted in her clan being persecuted, earning a grudge from the latter.

Carmilla was revealed to appear as one of the main antagonists in the Season 2 trailer of the Castlevania animated series, apparently playing the role of one of Dracula's most prominent generals or a powerful ally. In this new portrayal of the character, she appears as a tall, pale and thin woman with long straight white hair. Of note is that her face is round, white and has a pointy chin, probably alluding to the character's iconic mask first seen in Simon's Quest.

Carmilla's mask can be seen near the end of the August 8, 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct stream, peeking through a window and shedding a tear of blood as Luigi's soul attempts to reenter his body. She also appears as a background character in Dracula's Castle. Her overall design was derived from her appearance in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.